Open House Weekend at Temple B'nai Brith May 3-5

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Our family are members of Temple B'nai Brith. If you're looking for a Jewish community in Somerville, either for a religious school for kids, or religious or educational or cultural activities for everyone, I encourage you to check out the congregation! And feel free to contact me personally or the folks mentioned below if you have questions that aren't answered here.


OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND

Temple B’nai Brith of Somerville invites you to our
Spring Open House
May 3-5, 2013



Come visit our beautiful and historic synagogue and learn more about our community.



We are an independent Jewish congregation serving Somerville and surrounding communities. We pride ourselves for our commitment to social justice and our involvement in our local community. All our services are egalitarian and participatory. You can find out more about us on our website at templebnaibrith.org. or by contacting our executive director, Lisa Gregerman at lisag@templebnaibrith.org. You may also contact either of our religious leaders: our darshan Phil Weiss at phil@templebnaibrith.org or Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz at rabbieliana@gmail.com. We look forward to making your acquaintance.



FRIDAY, MAY 3 Kabbalat Shabbat Services 6:00pm - 7:00pm

We welcome Shabbat with song and prayer. Our prayer book is completely translated and transliterated. All ages are welcome.


SATURDAY, MAY 4 (Choose from one of our two Shabbat morning services).
9:15am - 12:15pm Our weekly Shabbat morning service is led by members of our congregation. The Torah service includes a full chanting of the week's Torah portion and Haftarah. We use siddur Sim Shalom.

10:30am - 12:15pm Our monthly Kehillat Shabbat (lit. Shabbat Community) Service combines Hebrew and English, singing and responsive reading, a short Torah service, and a Torah discussion of the weekly portion. We use a fully transliterated and translated prayer book.

At the conclusion of both services we join together for a kiddush lunch.

SUNDAY, MAY 5 Children’s School Open House 11:00am - 12:30pm

11:00 - 11:45 Tour the building and visit a class.
11:45 - Noon gather with us in the chapel for a short tefillah (prayer) time led by students.
12:00 - 12:30 Hang out and speak with our education director, Rabbi Eliana, with the co-chairs of the education committee, and with school parents.
To inquire about school registration for the coming year email rabbieliana@gmail.com.


Temple B’nai Brith is located at 201 Central Street in Somerville. Non-Somerville residents can park on surrounding streets on Shabbat without a resident parking sticker or permit. Please visit templebnaibrith.org for more details about parking.

Comments

[freckles42.livejournal.com]

How about for the curious? (Not looky-loos, but people who are interested in exploring Judaism and possibly looking to convert down the road.)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I'd say sure, come see if you find the services meaningful. We're not a huge congregation with a defined procedure to walk someone through converting to Judaism or anything, and I don't know if you'd learn a lot about that from a visit during our open house -- but the open house is a fine opportunity to get a feel for what the congregation is like. (You don't have to be Jewish to start coming regularly to services, either.)

[freckles42.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'm relatively familiar, from an outsider's perspective - I was a religious studies major and have walked with friends as they've gone through their own conversions. It's still daunting to take that step, but I finally resolved to begin a serious exploration very recently. This came up on my friend's page and B'nai Brith is a block from my home, so it seems like as good of a place to start as any. :)